Wednesday, 18 June 2014

Strawberry and mint meringue with elderflower cream

Strawberry and mint meringue with elderflower cream

It's June and my beloved
Wimbledon tennis starts on Monday. Therefore it is officially
strawberry season. We planted a few strawberry plants a couple of
years ago and they were supplemented last year with some free ones
from a newspaper offer. According to the all the gardening books I
have it says you pin down the runners from the plants after fruiting
and then re-plant them. I have just left them to run wild but the
strawberry plot is contained by wooden planks so the whole garden
hasn't been taken over.

When we first moved here
there were several pick-your-your strawberry fields we used to go to.
Once June arrived we would start looking out for the signs strapped
to lamp posts to say it was picking time. One of fields was
particularly delightful. Due to its size as a large soft fruit and
vegetable farm you often got to ride on the trailer pulled by the
tractor to get to the far fields. Over the years all of them have
closed down. The last one closed after customers were eating more
than they buying and people raiding the site at night. The owners
ended up living in a caravan next to the field in order to guard it.
The rain that was the summer of 2012 meant a crop failure and it
washed away any fairweather customers.

My daily pickings are now
supplemented by supermarket offerings. I only buy British
strawberries. Nothing beats their dark red coating or how their soft
interior makes it hard not to eat one without the sweet juice running
out of your mouth. It's a seasonal treat and should remain so. I
couldn't let my bottle of elderflower cordial be quaffed without me using it for other purposes. For
the full on seasonal experience I added some to the cream.

The mint in the strawberry
mixture grows in a pot in my garden. It's a Lime Mint plant I bought
at the garden centre at RHS Wisley last year. I never took it in over
the winter but the mild weather has been kind to it. It's not such a
rampant grower as garden mint but still best restricted to a pot. Use
whatever fresh mint you prefer.

Just a quick note on the
meringue - if it doesn't turn out as you hoped remember that Eton
Mess is bashed up meringue, strawberries and cream...

This is also going to Tina
at The Spicy Pear who is hosting Four Seasons Food this month on behalf
of Louisa at Eat your veg
and Anneli at Delicieux. This
month's theme is Red.

With
strawberries, mint and elderflower cordial, which I saw being bottled
myself, this is also going to Ren at Ren Behan for June's Simple and in Season.

Weekly
blogging events are Recipe of the Week
with Emily at A Mummy Too.

2.
On the baking parchment draw round the dinner plate leaving space
around it. Don't cut out the circle but instead leave space all
around. Place on the baking tray.

3.
In a large bowl put the egg whites and whisk until stiff and won't
slide out of the bowl.

4.
Keep the whisk going and gradually add the caster sugar.

5.
Mix together the cornflour and white wine vinegar. Beat into the
mixture.

6.
Make the meringue nest either by spooning the meringue around the
edge of the circle and building it up before adding some in the
middle. Alternatively spoon it all into the middle and then push out
to the sides of the circle.

7.
Reduce the oven temperature to 150°C/Gas
mark 2 and then cook for 1 hour.

8.
The meringue should have a light brown colour to it and hard to the
touch. Turn off the oven and leave it to cool in it.

9.
While it is cooling make the strawberry filling by putting the
strawberries, caster sugar, mint and vanilla extract in a bowl and
gently mixing together. Put to one side.

10.
Once the meringue has cooled peel off the baking parchment and put on
a serving plate.

11.
Whisk the double cream until thick and keep whisking while you pour
in the elderflower cordial.

12.
Pile the strawberries on top. Be careful as the syrup is prone to
running down the side.

Further
suggestions:
Go through the soft fruit season by trying this with raspberries, red
currants and finally blackberries.

10 comments:

Oh. This looks so delicious. There's nothing like the taste of English strawberries. The imported ones might be bigger, but they don't have the flavor and sweetness of our home grown fruit. Visiting from UK Bloggers.

I love strawberries and elderflower - the combination epitomises Summer for me. This looks wonderful - now we just need the weather to go with it! Thanks for linking to #CookBlogShareCheck the Pinterest board here http://www.pinterest.com/supergolden88/cookblogshare/

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